


On My Own

by FullElven



Series: Latch [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 14:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullElven/pseuds/FullElven
Summary: Another Les Mis soundtrack inspired fic. Pre-Courage & Comfort. Sidon finds himself lost within his thoughts as he watches Link disappear within the Divine Beast Vah Ruta.





	On My Own

**Author's Note:**

> Sudden inspiration hit me listening to Lea Salonga sing "On My Own" at DisCon2017. So this is what you get...Sidon breaking my damn heart.

Ripples pulsed rhythmically through the water as Vah Ruta rumbled its door closed, and suddenly…much like Mipha…Link has disappeared into the Divine Beast. Despite the incessant spray from the trunk, I could spy little twinkles of starlight. Just barely visible against the pale light of the full moon’s glow, a silver rainbow of sorts was projected against the skyline. What should have been beautiful just seemed more like the spectre of false promises…

In a moment of weakness, I let my smile be tugged downward by the nerves in the pit of my stomach, and I _scowl_ hard at the phantom phenomena.

By the time I returned to Zora’s Domain, most had returned to their quarters, leaving only the night watchmen and a few stragglers here and there. The waterfalls were no longer deafening in their falling, some of their force lessoned by the slight repositioning of the Divine Beast. Still, the river coursed in a flurried rush. Much like the flow of time these past hundred years, it gave no thought to those it swept up in its current, to propel blindly ahead without a care.

The streets glistened, still wet from the endless “rain” that had accosted us. The light of the blue-flame lanterns caused those who passed beneath their perches to cast long dark shadows. I was not impervious, and as I watched my shadow approach and pass with the fading light source, I imagined another there with it. Smaller than mine, less grace to his step against my practiced poise.

A smile graced my lips, picturing him taking quicker steps to make up for my larger gait. Without words, we pass by Mipha’s statue, paying our respects to her. Quietly, I kneel to pray to her, thanking her for blessing me…blessing _us_. For so long, she had loved Link, she had spoken of nothing else _but_ him…much to the chagrin to our elders. And yet, as I feel his small arms wrap around my torso, I release a held breath and lean back.

For a moment, just the breath of a moment, I had let the sadness rule my mind. But closing my eyes away, the Champion held me, guiding me with a warmth and grace that rivaled any other in the world. His scent washed over my senses, like the forest carried on the warm summer breeze, and enveloped me in a cocoon where only he and I existed.

Link took my hand, and with such excitement dancing in those beautiful blue eyes, he laughed as he pulled me from the statue. Though he ran, it was a brisk walk for me as I followed him, head canted a little in curiosity to what had him so alight. His laugh was infectious, and I can’t help but begin to laugh too, wishing that I could see the world with that endless wonder and mirth that he did.

Our reflections rippled through the puddles on the pathways, the lanterns giving them an otherworldly sheen from afar. Starlight sparkles through the tree line, and a comet flickers green against the waterfalls briefly. He just stopped there on the bridge, breathless, and holding my hand close. I realized, there in our silence, it wasn’t about how he saw the world. It was that he saw it at all.

Every breath, every sight, every _smell, taste…_ the fact that he _could_ enjoy the next one was why he _did._ Life swelled in him, and he took it for the precious gift that it was. The knight whose courage so often bordered on foolhardy. The champion who gave that very same life without hesitation, without a single question, for the Princess he swore to protect…it wasn’t that he had no concept of how blessed he was to breathe, but that he valued all of life’s right to take their next breath enough to give his own.

“I love you,” I whispered to the darkness, gaining a strange look from the elder that passed me, his bronze skin thin in some places, sagging in others. I gave him a smile and he shook his head, not stopping on his trek. I can already hear Father’s worry later… _Sidon, they say you’ve been up talking to yourself again. You haven’t done that since your sister passed._

A sigh passed my lips, bringing with it a sudden pain so strong within my heart, that I grasped my chest a moment. It stole my breath, stung my throat, and filled my eyes with mist. _Link doesn’t even remember you, you love sick fool. While you’re pining of the days you spent swimming in the river with him through your childhood, his thoughts are on his Kingdom, his Princess, and his duty. You are but a means to achieve an end for him, a footnote in long forgotten history._

“Forgotten things are meant to be remembered,” I whispered, my lip trembling. Quickly, I dried my eyes, looking this way and that to be sure none had caught my slip. Endless black and dark blue had started to give way to the violet and pinks of morning. The stars no longer glistened against the river, the lanterns magically dimming in preparation for daylight.

Turning, I began to head for my room, nearly tripping over a couple of children chasing frogs across the streets. They greet me, wide eyed and hero worshipping, but their names fail me and I only manage to give them a smile and a thumbs up, before turning away again. Everywhere I turn, another face, another searching gaze…but none of them are Link. None of them are the hero who’d conquered my heart without ever once having to raise a single weapon. The Champion of unrequited love.

Every step brought another ache to my chest, another break in my heart, as the light seemed to illuminate the painful truth. It didn’t matter the memories we had, the smiles we shared, he didn’t remember me. Beyond a friendly smile and enthusiastic pick-me-up, I was just some Zora who helped him out a moment, and tomorrow… _tomorrow I’ll be nothing to him._

The realization reels me, and I clutch a post tight enough that my claws leave indentions in the surface. Relentless, the tears fall and blur my vision, and it’s just all too much. I slid down the post, and a choked sob falls past my lips before I can stop it. _What is wrong with me?!_ Frustration only served to further fuel my upset.

It’s the sudden envy of his ability to walk through life unfazed by what touches him that startled me out of my episode. I forced a breath out, and with it, that dark feeling that should never had touched my soul to begin with. Another breath follows, and another, before I could manage to pull myself from the ground.

I should not covet the things that make me love him most, but celebrate that he can have that light to hold against the darkness of his path. I should celebrate it…because I love him, even if it’s only alone in the darkness of my own.

Fin.


End file.
